Apparatus for filing documents

ABSTRACT

THE PRESENT INVENTION IS CONCERNED WITH DOCUMENT FILING APPARATUS COMPRISING A RECTANGULAR TAB FOR ATTACHMENT TO A LEAF OF A DOCUMENT FILE, TWO SIMILAR, SPACED CHANNEL SECTION RAILS FORMED FROM RIGID SHEET MATERIAL AND COMPRISING A TAB SUPPORTING FLANGE AND A SECONDARY FLANGE JOINED TO THE TAB SUPPORTING FLANGE BY A WEB, WHEREIN THE TAB HAS A FIRST PAIR OF PARALLEL SIDE EDGES, A SECOND PAIR OF PARALLEL SIDE EDGES AND ALIGNED SLOTS EXTENDING INTO THE SAID FIRST SIDE EDGES, THE SLOTS BEING SLIGHTLY LONGER THAN THE DEPTH OF THE TAB SUPPORTING FLANGES OF THE RAILS AND SPACED FROM ONE OF THE SAID SECOND SIDE EDGES BY A DISTANCE SLIGHTLY LESS THAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE FLANGES OF EACH RAIL AND THE RAILS BEING ARRANGED WITH THEIR OPEN MOUTHS FACING AND SPACED APART BY A DISTANCE SLIGHTLY GREATER THAN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SAID FIRST SIDE EDGES OF THE TAB, WHEREBY THE TAB CAN BE INCLINED AT AN ANGLE TO THE RAILS, INSERTED BETWEEN THE RAILS UNTIL THE SLOTS ARE ALIGNED WITH THE TAB SUPPORTING FLANGES AND STRAIGHTENED SO AS TO EXTEND TRANSVERSELY BETWEEN THE RAILS WITH THE TAB SUPPORTING FLANGES LOCATED WITHIN THE SLOTS TO RETAIN THE TAB AND ITS ASSOCIATED LEAF SLIDABLY ON THE RAILS. THE TAB SUPPORTING FLANGE OF EACH RAIL CAN BE PROVIDED WITH AN UPWARDLY PROJECTING LIP EXTENDING ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL EDGE OF THE FLANGE AND EACH SLOT IN THE TAB IS THEN FORMED WITH A RECESS AT ITS INNER END, THE SAID RECESSES BEING ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE LIPS ON THE RAILS AND THEREAFTER RESIST ROTATION OF THE TAB ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS.

Guest et al.

[ Sept. 17, 1974 APPARATUS FOR FILING DOCUMENTS Inventors: Jack Bernard Guest; Kathleen Ethel Joyce Guest, both of 119 Albury Dr., Pinner, Middlesex, England Filed: May 3, 1971 Appl. No.: 139,410

Related US. Application Data Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 26,533, April 8, 1970.

US. Cl. 312/183 Int. Cl. A47b 63/00, A47b 97/02 Field of Search 312/183, 184; 211/162 1,096,865 12/1967 Great Britain 312/184 1,034,139 7/1958 Germany 312/184 1,127,326 4/1962 Germany 312/184 Primary Examiner-Paul R. Gilliam Airmen Ag nt, qnF Arthur March [57] ABSTRACT The present invention is concerned with document filing apparatus comprising a rectangular tab for attachment to a leaf of a document file, two similar, spaced channel section rails formed from rigid sheet material and comprising a tab supporting flange and a secondary flange joined to the tab supporting flange by a web, wherein the tab has a first pair of parallel side edges, a second pair of parallel side edges and aligned slots extending into the said first side edges, the slots being slightly longer than the depth of the tab supporting flanges of the rails and spaced from one of the said second side edges by a distance slightly less than the distance between the flanges of each rail and the rails being arranged with their open mouths facing and spaced apart by a distance slightly greater than the distance between the said first side edges of the tab, whereby the tab can be inclined at an angle to the rails, inserted between the rails until the slots are aligned with the tab supporting flanges and straightened so as to extend transversely between the rails with the tab supporting flanges located within the slots to retain the tab and its associated leaf slidably on the rails. The tab supporting flange of each rail can be provided with an upwardly projecting lip extending along the longitudinal edge of the flange and each slot in the tab is then formed with a recess at its inner end, the said recesses being adapted to receive the lips on the rails and thereafter resist rotation of the tab about a vertical axis.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED 1 3.836.219

SHEET 1 U 4 F|G.l

25 J50 I, 51 2 l 7 gg4zg/j/q/ V/////// y/B 1O Inventors:

Jock Bernard Guest Kathleen Ethyl Joyce Guest 4 March and LeFever By: Attorneys:

PAIENIE SEPI 71914 SHEET 2 [IF 4 Inventors:

Jock Bernard Guest Kathleen Ethyl Joyce Guest By: March 0nd LeFever Attorneys:

PATENTEDSEPI 11 1 3.836.219

:mEU 3 OF 4 Inventors:

Jock Bernard Guest Kathleen Ethyl Joyce Guest March and LeFever Attorneys:

PAIENTED "(I974 358336.219

SHEET l 0F 4 FIGS.

ma 1 5g /,/13/]OC Inventors:

Jack'Bernurd Guest Kathleen Ethyl Joyce Guest March and LeFever Attorneys:

APPARATUS FOR FILING DOCUMENTS The present application isa continuation-in-part of our earlier US. Pat. application Ser. No. 26,533 dated Apr. 8, 1970.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION It is known to provide apparatus for filing documents comprising a pair of spaced rails and a plurality of files or folders for holding documents, each of which has a pair of rigid runners attached along the free edges of its two leaves which engage on the rails and which are slidable therealong. In this arrangement, which is commonly known as a lateral filing system, the files or folders hang downwardly and form pockets open at the front for the documents to be filed, while being laterally movable along the rails.

This known system has the disadvantage that the supporting rails have to be spaced apart by a distance greater than the front to back dimension of the files or folders, since the rigid runners have to project beyond both ends of the files for engagement on the rails. Consequently, it is impossible to adapt existing shelving to accommodate this type of lateral filing system unless it is unusually deep.

It is one object of the present invention to provide apparatus for filing documents which enables existing shallow shelving, recessed cupboards and the like to be used for lateral filing.

It is also known to provide desk standing document filing and sorting apparatus comprising a tray and a plurality of document dividers which are trapped in the tray and movable therealong to provide a plurality of movable divisions for sorting and storing documents.

. Hitherto, the dividers have been provided at one end with rollers which are trapped beneath spaced overlying flanges on the tray and the dividers are spaced by variable spacing members located between the rollers. This known apparatus has the disadvantages that the dividers and associated rollers are relatively expensive to manufacture and can be time consuming to operate if it is desired to vary the spacing between adjacent dividers.

It is therefore a further object of the present-invention to provide apparatus which can be used as a lateral filing system in existing shelving and which can be used also as a simple and cheap form of document sorting apparatus in conjunction with a known desk standing tray of the above described type.

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention there is provided document filing apparatus comprising a rectangular tab for attachment to a leaf of a document file, two similar, spaced channel section rails formed from rigid sheet material and comprising a tab supporting flange and a secondary flange joined to the tab supporting flange by a web, wherein the tab has a first pair of parallel side edges, a second pair of parallel side edges and aligned slots extending into the said first side edges, the slots being slightly longer than the depth of the tab supporting flanges of the rails and spaced from one of the said second side edges by a distance slightly less than the distance between the flanges of each rail and the rails being arranged with their open mouths facing and spaced apart by a distance slightly greater than the distance between the said first side edges of the tab,

whereby the tab can be inclined at an angle to the rails, inserted between the rails until the slots are aligned with the tab supporting flanges and straightened so as to extend transversely between the rails with the tab supporting flanges located within the slots to retain the tab and its associated leaf slidably on the rails.

Preferably, in order to ensure that the tab cannot rotate accidentally about a vertical axis and fall off the rails each rail is formed with a raised lip along its longitudinal edge and the tab has a recess at the end of each slot therein, the lips engaging in the recesses to thereafter resist rotation of the tab.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of document filing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a section on the line IIII of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a modification of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 5 is an elevation, similar to FIG. 1, of a modification of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In FIGS. 1 and 2, document filing apparatus according to the present invention is indicated generally at 10. The apparatus 10 comprises a rectangular tab 11 and a pair of channel section rails 12 and 13, which in the illustrated embodiment are formed integrally from a single flat sheet of material.

The tab 11 is formed from any suitable material which is sufficiently rigid as to be self-supporting and is preferably formed from a synthetic plastics material such as sheet polyropylene. The tab 11 is generally rectangular in shape having parallel short side edges l4, l5 and parallel long side edges 16, 17. Slots 18, 19 extend inwardly from the short side edges 14, 15 in parallel with the long side edges 16, 17 and in line with one another.

The tab 11 is attached by means of two clips 20, 21 to a leaf 22 of a document file which will be made of manilla or other similar fibrous material.

The rails 12 and 13 are similar and comprise tab supporting flanges 23, 24 respectively which are joined to secondary flanges 25, 26 respectively by flat webs 27, 28 respectively. The two rails 12 and 13 are formed from a single sheet of material such as aluminum or a similar relatively strong alloy, by bending the edge portions of the sheet, upwardly through to form the webs 27, 28 and then inwardly through a further 90 to form the tab supporting flanges 23, 24 which are arranged so as to be co-planar. It will thus be seen that the open mouths of the two rails 12, 13 are facing and spaced apart from one another.

In order to attach the tab 11 to the rails 12, 13, the tab is inclined at an angle across the rails and inserted between the tab supporting flanges 23, 24. The tab is then moved upwardly until the slots 18, 19 are aligned with the tab supporting flanges 23, 24 and the tab 11 is then rotated so that it extends transversely between the rails 12 and 13 with the tab supporting flanges 23, 24 located in the slots 18, 19 respectively. Thereafter, the tab cannot be drawn downwardly away from the rails l2, l3 and is free to slide lengthwise along the rails.

It will be seen that the length of the slots 18, 19 is slightly greater than the depth of the tab supporting flanges 23, 24 and that the slots 18 and 19 are spaced from the long side edge 17 of the tab by a distance slightly less than the distance separating the tab supporting flanges 23, 24 from the secondary flanges 25, 26.

The rails 12-andl3 are attached to a support 29 by screws 30, 31'when553565611" and into the supqort 29. The flanges 25, 26 are provided with circular apertures to receive the screws 30, 31.

It will be appreciated from the above that the tab 11 and rails 12, 13 provide a lateral filing apparatus which can be readily installed in any existing shelving system, regardless of the depth of the shelving. This advantage is achieved because the tab 11 is relatively narrow and thus the rails 12, 13 do not have to be spaced very far apart in order to accommodate the tab 11. The rails 12, 13 can thus be attached to the support adjacent the open side of the support and the leaf 22 of the file to which the tab 11 is attached can project outwardly from the open side of the support. Theapparatus comprising the tab 11 and rails 12 and 13 thus enables a shelf or cavity which is relatively shallow to be adapted to a lateral filing system.

It will be appreciated that the tab 11 can be attached to folders or files and adjacent tabs 1 1 can be linked together where necessary to form a lateral filing system. To facilitate the linking of adjacent tabs each tab can be provided with two holes 50 (as shown in broken line in FIG. 1) adapted'to receive connecting members such as clips or rivets.

The rails l2, 13 can be formed from a single sheet of material, as shown in FIG. 1, or they can be formed separately as the rails 12a, 13a which are shown in FIG. 3. The rails 12a, 13a are otherwise similar to the rails 12 and 13 and similar reference numerals are used in FIG. 3 for similar parts. I

The rails 12a, 13a are mounted on L-section end supports 33 and 34 which are in turn mounted in any suitable manner on the side walls of a cabinet or cupboard.

The rails 12a, 13a are used to support document files 35 each of which comprises two leaves 22a, a support 11 being attached to each leaf 22a in the manner described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

It will be seen that the files 35 are readily slidable on the rails 12a, 13a and can be linked together by linking the adjacent tabs 11 if required.

The rails 12 and 13 of the present invention can also be used in the manner of a desk standing document sorting unit of the type indicated generally at 40 in FIG. 4.

The sorting unit 40 comprises rails 12b, 13b which are similar to the rails 12 and 13 of FIGS. 1 and 2 and which carry, slidably arranged thereon, tabs 11b.

Each tab 11b is attached by clips to a document divider 41 which is a rectangular sheet of manilla or similar fibrous material.

The tabs 1 lb are slidable on the rails 12b, 13b and the unit 40 is used to sort and file documents by placing documents between the relevant document dividers 41. It will be appreciated that end stops are placed within the rails 12b, 13b to prevent the tabs 11b from coming off the rails, and if required suitable spacing members can be inserted in the rails 12b, 13b and between adjacent tabs 11b.

In certain applications, for instance where the rails 12, 13 carry relatively few tabs 11 it has been found that there is a tendency for the tabs 11 to become accidentally dislodged. Thismay occur if a tab is knocked and rotated about a vertical axis. This problem is overcome by the modified filing apparatus 100, shown in FIG. 5, in which the tab supporting flanges 23c, 240 of rails 12c, 130 are provided on their longitudinal edges with raised lips 51, 52 respectively and tab is formed with slots 18c, 19c having upwardly extending recesses 53, 54 respectively at their inner ends.

In order to attach the tab 11c to the rails 12c, slots 18c, 19c are aligned with the lips 51 and 52 and the tab 11c is then rotated until the tab is arranged at right angles to the rails 12c, 13c, with the lips 51 and 52 positioned beneath the recesses 53 and 54. The tab 110 is then released and drops onto the rails with the lips 51 and 52 located in the recesses 53 and 54. Thereafter the lips 51, 52 prevent rotation of the tab 11c about a vertical axis and thus prevent accidental dislodgement of the tab from the rails. In order to remove the tab 110 from the rails the tab is lifted slightly to align the lips 51, 52 with the slots 18c, 19c and then rotated.

It will be seen that the width of the slots 18c, is greater than the depth of the lips 51, 52 so that the lips can pass freely along the slots when the tab is lifted slightly. Furthermore, when the tab is resting on the rails, the tab slides on the flanges 23c, 24c and not on the lips 51, 52 which ensures a smooth and relatively free sliding movement of the tab along the rails.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the tab 11 and the rails 12, 13 of the present invention provide an extremely flexible and cheap apparatus for the filing and sorting of documents. In one application, the apparatus of the present invention can be used to provide a lateral filing system which can be installed in any existing shelving or cabinet unit, regardless of the depth of the shelving and in an alternative embodiment the apparatus of the present invention can be adapted for use as a desk standing document sorting unit.

. The apparatus is particularly useful for converting existing shelving into a lateral filing system but it will be appreciated that it can be built up into a complex filing system of prefabricated filing cabinets incorporating several rows of rails which can be used to suspend files in a lateral filing system or/and in addition to accommodate upstanding document dividers of the type shown in FIG. 4.

Although the tab 11 has been shown attached to a document or folder 22 by clips 20, 21 it will be understood that it can be attached by adhesive and one particularly advantageous manner of attachment is by using a double sided impact adhesive tape. It will also be understood that the tab 11 can be attached to a file for holding documents, to a document divider or directly onto the document to be filed. This latter application is particularly useful for storing and filing X-ray sheets where the tab is attached directly onto the X-ray sheet.

It will also be understood that the tab can form an integral part of a divider or filing card instead of being a separate integer which is mechanically attached to the divider or card.

Further minor modifications can be made to the above described embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention which is best described in the following claims.

What we claim is:

I. A document filing device comprising:

a tab for attachment to a leaf of a document folder including top, side and lower edges and a slot in said lower edge inwardly disposed from said side edge;

supporting means for said tab comprising a side portion, a horizontally disposed base portion and a rail portion adjacent said base portion for interengaging said slot in said tab and forming a guideway;

said top edge of said tab being unconfined for a greater distance than the distance between the lower edge of said tab and the top of the leaf of the document folder so that the rail portion is manually insertable between the lower edge of the tab and the top of the leaf of the document folder and locatable in said slot in said tab whereby the lower edge of said tab is supported within the guideway on the base portion of said supporting means.

2. A document filing device according to claim 1, including a wing portion partially spaced and depending from the lower edge of said tab and wherein said top edge of said tab is unconfined for a greater distance than the distance between the lower edge of said tab and the top of said wing portion.

3. A document filing device according to claim 1, including a top portion on said supporting means forming substantially U-shaped channels with said side and base portion and wherein said top portion of said supporting means is spaced a greater distance from the top edge of said tab than the distance between the lower edge of said tab and the top of the leaf of the document folder.

4. The document filing device of claim 3 wherein the distance between the side edge of said tab and said slot is greater than the width of the slot.

5. A document filing device according to claim 3 including a wing portion partially spaced and depending from said lower edge of said tab, and wherein said top portion of said supporting means is spaced a greater distance from the top edge of said tab than the distance between the lower edge of said supporting means and the top of said wing portion.

6. The document device of claim 3 wherein the top of the slot is spaced from said rail portion of the supporting means.

7. The document filing device of claim 3 wherein the supporting means comprises one sheet of material.

8. The document filing device of claim 3 wherein the tab and the supporting means are substantially rectangular. 

